A Day in Anchorage

The planet Anchorage is located somewhere in the Gamma Quadrent, it was once a rich mining settlement operated by a self sufficient conglomerate of miners and tradesmen. It is home to a large indigenous population and the location of many strongholds of criminal organisations the planet is barely tolerated by the other major powers due to the abundance of natural resources still produced by the large mining and refining complexes scattered across the surface.

Anchorage is an also a haven for those looking to escape law and order or to find an opportunity to make a profit among other things, including slavery, arms dealing, prostitution, racketeering and illegal scientific research.

Violence and murder are a daily occurrence across the planet with gangs and bandits running free and as such most of the inhabitants are largely lawless, clustered together for mutual protection, or simply to take advantage of anyone else they meet. What little government has formed is corrupt to the core with bribery and blackmail as much a part of official procedure as more legitimate means.

Territory is controlled by Crime Lords, the strongest of these factions vying for power in a particular area. However these territories frequently change hands, often after brutal violence. While a few of the strongest gangs have existed for many years other gangs are constantly on the rise, threatening the Old School's dominance as the young pups scratch for their own piece of the action. Some of the smaller gangs are sponsored by the larger ones in order to be used as part of the byzantine political environment of pacts, treaties and promises which prevent the planet from imploding under its own inherent violence.

Central government exists only in order to keep the infrastructure alive and to ensure that basic supplies are made available from off world trade, since the air and earth of the planet has become so polluted over the years of industrial malpractice that not even the groundwater is fit for consumption.

The composition of the government is less stable however with individual politicians being replaced, usurped or simply disappearing into the night whenever the Crime Lords decide they've served their purpose.

Anchorage is a city on a planet of which it shares and takes its name. Like its namesake it is entirely lawless with no real government or allegiance to any interplanetary state. It is home to a large indigenous population and is the location of many strongholds of criminal organisations. Anchorage is also a haven for those looking to escape law and order or to find an opportunity to make a profit...amongst other things.

It is on this planet in the city of which shares its name, our story begins with a less than reputable fellow man named Lars Dampier, he is leader of a gang of pirates the Iron Fists and are virtually new and unknown in this city.

Lars Dampier walks alone down a dark and dingy alleyway deeper into the seedier and equally dangerous part of the city towards a well-known and frequently visited bar by people like him called Purgatory a name which truly did it speak for itself as it was a place of some disrepute and constant violence as indicated by the pockmarked main entrance which Lars Dampier approached but headed down a side alley towards the back entrance when he saw he was looking for, Yridian suddenly darted out in the entrance coming to a sudden stop and looking right at Lars Dampier immediately set off running in the other direction.

Lars Dampier chased the Yridian down the alley the Yridian skidding to a dead stop as it came to a dead end in the alley. The Yridian crumpled to his knees and began to plead with Lars Dampier "p p please don’t kill me, I...I tried to resist them, but those Federation types there were too good it was either tell them what they wanted or spend a seriously long time and one of their federation prisons’’.

Lars Dampier simply walked up to the kneeling Yridian worm cowering at his feet and spluttering out his words as he begged not to be killed but Lars Dampier simply spat down on the Yridian in contempt saying "I certainly paid you enough to stay quiet, but I have found out you simply squandered it all the way, and then tried to steal from the Federation and to save your own hide you sold me out to them, tell you what as I'm feeling so generous why don't I give you a lesson in power, you see power is holding someone's fear in the palm of your hand...and then showing it to them’’ and as soon as those last words were said Lars Dampier produced a large Klingon disrupter pistol in his hand and fired hitting the Yridian causing him to keel over sideways into the dirt.

Lars Dampier then casually walked away from the dead Yridian muttering to himself disappearing into the dusty heat of the day muttering to himself "if you want something in this galaxy all you've got to do is take it’’